Op-ed: Obamacare is a disaster

We need to repeal all of the Affordable Care Act

December 12, 2013

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Sen. Ted Cruz

Obamacare was created with an ostensibly noble purpose: to expand health coverage to some of the uninsured and to make health care more affordable. Three-and-a-half years ago, perhaps reasonable minds could have differed as to whether it would actually work.

Today, there can be no dispute that Obamacare is a disaster.

The reason Obamacare is failing is not its bungled website. It is because Americans are now seeing the fundamental trade-off behind the law — that in order to insure a relatively small number of the uninsured, many millions more Americans are likely to lose their private insurance, lose access to preferred doctors, or pay substantially more for their insurance.

President Obama promised that if this law was passed, you could keep your plan, you could keep your doctors, and your premiums would go down. Each of those promises has proved false.

Already, more than 4 million people have lost their insurance plans because of Obamacare. And millions more Americans' health insurance is at risk. Some experts predict anywhere from 80 million to 129 million private health plans will be canceled or forcibly changed over the next year.

Millions of Americans are also discovering that Obamacare will not allow them to keep their doctors or be treated at cutting-edge medical facilities, as more and more doctors and hospitals opt out of Obamacare.

Watchdog.org found that 11 of the top 18 hospitals nationwide had only one or two Obamacare insurance carriers.

The president promised that the average family's premiums would fall by $2,500; instead, they have risen by over $3,000 since 2008.

Particularly harmed are young people trying to climb the economic ladder. Many are discovering that insurance plans provided in the Obamacare exchanges are much more expensive than their current plan and have higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. All of this is by design because Obamacare depends on young, healthy people being forced to pay higher premiums in order to subsidize the premiums of older, less healthy people.

Moreover, Obamacare is a major jobs killer, especially for those struggling to climb the economic ladder. Workers are seeing their hours cut, and small businesses are unable to hire new employees.

It's common sense to recognize that Obamacare isn't working. We need to repeal it entirely, and instead reform federal law to expand choices and make health plans personal, portable and affordable.